


I Know Places.

by arabellainthsky



Category: Outlander & Related Fandoms, Outlander (TV), Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Fluff, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:34:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28164837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arabellainthsky/pseuds/arabellainthsky
Summary: Jamie is a witch hunter. Guess who's a witch?***The Mackenzie's were an organization of the most infamous witch hunters in the world. Slaying witches was their main priority, and they did it well. Witches were the biggest threat to the world in their eyes, and they made sure they did everything in their power to put them down.In order to take down the witch population, they needed to take down the 7 most powerful witches in the world. As of now, the 7th was the only one left standing.Jamie Fraser had been looking for her for years, until word reached him that the she had risen to power in New Orleans, Louisiana; the city famous for its history of witches.However, when Jamie encounters Claire Beauchamp and starts getting closer to her, he begins to realize that witches may not be as bad as he was taught to believe after all.***
Relationships: Claire Beauchamp/Jamie Fraser
Comments: 44
Kudos: 83





	I Know Places.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New year new story oop-

_"They are the hunters, we are the foxes, and we run._

_Just grab my hand and don’t ever drop it, my love."_

_(Taylor Swift - I Know Places)_

Considering the numerous times I have spent my childhood playing out in the woods with Nymeria bounding along by my side, I thought to myself that I should be knowing these woods by heart. But once the sun sets and the mood emerges from hiding, nothing looks the same. 

My alert eyes squinted in the ominous darkness, lungs burning and screaming for oxygen as I sprinted through the woods. In the distance, the hounds howled wildly, shouts and jeers of the hunters resonating through the deadly silent trees. 

They were getting closer, and I looked over my shoulder, keeping my legs moving as I did so. The only way I was able to distinguish the men was by their torches, the cadmium yellow tone of the flames appeared like bright orange splotches in the distance. 

A strangled cry left my lips when I spun my head back forwards too quickly, a sharp tree branch cutting into my cheek. I felt the crimson liquid trickle down the skin of my cheek as I forced myself to run, jumping over branches that blocked my way. With another glance over my shoulder, I quickly moved behind a tree, pressing my back against it to catch a breath. 

"Fuck," I cursed to myself, scrunching my eyes shut as I tried to calm myself down.

Never in my life have I ever felt so alone. Alone and scared. All my life has been spent with me being surrounded by people I loved, people who've protected me and wouldn't let any harm come to me. Now I stood alone in the middle of the pitch-black forest, with the hunters and their bloodhounds sniffing me out. I knew myself I was fully capable of taking down every single man who was chasing me, but my fear and panic of being alone was taking over me so quickly I was losing hope.

My heart slammed against my ribcage as I breathed out heavily, my breaths coming out short and ragged. My hand reached up to clasp the golden pentagram necklace that laid on my chest, my thumb running over the five-pointed star as I prayed to all the gods above for help. All the confidence and bravery that was usually there inside of me left my body when I heard the barking of the hounds, now nearer than ever.

“Come out, come out wherever ye are, Claire,” Dougal called out, his voice causing me to tremble. 

A single tear rolled down my cheek, my entire body pressing tightly against the thick trunk of the tree behind me. The fingers of my left hand rose slightly, my eyes trained on a certain area in the distance, filled with dark trees. I managed to cause some loud rustling noises further away from me, hoping that would attract the hunters and the dogs. Luckily it did, causing them to turn away in the direction of the noise I had created. 

I waited for a couple of seconds, watching the orange flames of the torches move away, dark figures following along. My feet began moving again, slowly at first, before gradually speeding up. I wasn’t sure where I was trying to get to, just as long as it was away from them. Muttered curses left my lips as I tried to find my way back to some sort of path or road, but I was unlucky. 

I seemed to have underestimated the utter blackness of nighttime in the woods. The trees were a deep ebony against the bluish raven sky, the bare branches piercing into the darkness above. The moon was in the form of a crescent, providing a minimal amount of silvery light for me to navigate my way through the woods. I wanted to at least light my palms up with fire, or my fingertips, using my power of pyrokinesis, but I was too afraid the light would be a dead giveaway of my location for the hunters. 

Suddenly, I was ripped out of my thoughts when I heard the rustle of leaves behind me. I stopped shortly, spinning around, but found nothing. My eyes darted around, my hands held out ready to burn anything that was about to attack me. But there was nothing. I sucked in a breath, calming myself down before I turned around and began to jog. My jog turned into a sprint when I heard more rustling noises along with the breaking of branches. 

All of a sudden, a pair of hands grabbed me, causing my jaw to drop to let out a scream. But a hand clamped down onto my mouth, stopping me from creating any noise while I was suddenly tugged to the side and pressed against a tree. My eyes widened when they met a familiar pair of ocean blue eyes, the ones I fell in love with. The ones that also belonged to the man who had lied to me. 

“Jamie,” I whispered, tears immediately pricking my vision as I began to struggle against him immensely. 

“Claire, stop,” he hissed urgently, grabbing my wrists and pinning me to the bark. 

“Let me go,” I protested, before staring at him straight in the eye and causing a tiny rock to lift up from near us without Jamie noticing. 

I caused the rock to fly over to us, smacking Jamie straight in the head, making him curse out loud in surprise and let me go to touch his head. I immediately bolted, turning to the side. But I was caught completely off guard when I came face to face with the sight of a growling hound. It was Jamie’s dog, Rollo. The same dog who had always yapped happily whenever I fed him a treat. _Looks like the dog has changed too._

“Rollo, down,” Jamie commanded from behind me, as I watched the dog stop baring his teeth and sit down. 

“Sassenach,” he called out from behind me. 

I turned, my eyes filling up with tears as I stared at the beautiful man who had captured my heart far too easily, only to strike it down when I found out what his secrets were. To my surprise, he held his arms out, almost as if he was encouraging me to walk into them for a hug. As much as I wanted to, I held my ground, afraid he was going to give me up to the hunters. 

“Claire, I would never hurt ye. I promise,” he whispered, looking torn between walking up to me and giving me space. He dropped his arms, but walked forward a few steps. “Please, trust me.”

“How could I possibly trust you? After everything you lied about?” I cried softly, looking away as the tears fell. I barely ever cried. 

“The one thing I didna lie about was how much I love ye. Please, mo chridhe,” he begged quietly, watching me, his pleading blue eyes shining with a film of unshed tears. 

I inhaled deeply, gazing deep into his eyes before I took a few steps towards him. My body crashed against his as I practically jumped into his arms. As much as I detested the fact that he was a witch hunter and was out to kill me all this time, I was hopelessly in love with him, and now, in his arms, I didn’t feel alone again. His arms tightened around my waist, my chest pressing against his tightly as he held me to him. 

“I’m going tae protect ye,” he spoke into my hair before pulling back, cupping my cheeks as he stared at me earnestly. 

“Promise?” I whispered, my eyes fluttering shut when he ducked forward to press a gentle kiss to my forehead. 

His eyes momentarily flickered to the cut on my cheek, thumb hovering over it as he contemplated wiping the blood away. I instantly healed the cut myself, watching his eyes widening slightly when he watched it disappear. 

“I swear it,” he promised, jaw set into a hard, determined line, his eyes shining with conviction. 

A soft smile tugged up my lips, before disappearing as quickly as it came when I heard the hounds and shouts of the hunters once again. 

“Fuck,” Jamie cursed, alert eyes darting to the fulvous flames that were nearing us. 

I panicked, causing him to grab my face once again, cradling it gently but firmly between his large hands.

“Listen tae me mo chridhe. When we face them, we’ll fight. They dinna have any idea how powerful ye are, and ye’ll show them, aye?” he checked with me, making me nod sharply in response. “And I’ll be wi’ ye, every step of the way, by yer side. I’ll protect ye, till my last breath.”

He grasped my hand, lacing our fingers tightly and squeezing it reassuringly. 

“But for now, we run.”

  
***

Moodboard for this story:

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The updates for this will be VERY slow for a while, because I'm focusing more on my other story "A Flutter of Wings" for now, but I couldn't get this idea out of my head and needed to put it out there :p I might not start updating this until I finish my other story, but idk yet
> 
> I'm super excited about it, hope you enjoy! x


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